A Lark, Still Bravely Singing
by pandorabox82
Summary: During their first Memorial Day together, Erin hears a story about true heroism from David. 8th in the Christmas in Maine series.


The drive out to the cemetery was quiet. Dave was so sad and despite her best efforts, nothing could alleviate the gloom. It was understandable, given what this day was to him. "In high school, we sang an arrangement of 'In Flanders Fields'. I didn't understand at the time why my choir teacher cried every time we sang it," she said, wanting to break the mood in the car somehow.

"It's a gorgeous poem," he replied tonelessly. He sighed deeply. "I'm sorry, my English rose. I'm in such an awful mood today."

"I understand, Davie, I really do." She touched his upper arm and sighed lightly. "I love you."

"I love you, too." He turned his head to smile at her and she leaned over to kiss his cheek. Minutes later, he turned in to the cemetery. He parked in front of Carolyn and James's graves and turned the car off. "The water spigot is over by that building, Erin. Would you go fill the bucket while I get the holes started?"

"Of course, mo chroi." She took the bucket out from the back and made her way over to the building. It took her a minute to get the water turned on, as the valve had been stuck. She carried the full bucket over to where her beloved knelt in the dirt. "I hope you think I made the right choices for James and Carolyn."

"I think you made the right choices, Erin. I never knew about locust trees before."

"Black locust, honey. The other type had thorns, and that didn't seem appropriate for James. I grew up with these trees in Pennsylvania, and always loved the fragrant scent of the flowers in spring." She helped him to take the small tree out of the pot and held it straight as he filled the rest of the hole in with the dirt from the hole. Once he had tamped it down, she poured the water around the tree, wetting the ground. "I'll be right back with more water," Erin said softly as she kissed his cheek once more.

This bucket was easier to fill, so David was still digging when she returned to him. Carefully, she sat on the ground and began to pull up the few weeds that were growing around the headstone. "So then dance with me, oh my charming one, with your golden, golden slippers on," he sang softly and Erin hummed along with the song.

"The Japanese maple will complement the tree for James quite well," she whispered once he'd finished singing. He nodded and she felt her throat close up, tears welling up in her eyes. David looked over at her and she tried to smile, but ended up trying to muffle her sob instead. "I'm sorry."

"Oh my love," he said quietly as he scooted over to her, wrapping her up in his arms. "Now I've transferred my sorrow onto you." He kissed her temple gently and she melted into his touch, needing to be closer to him at this moment.

"Your sorrow is my sorrow, Davie. I love you so much that I know your mood shifts, your emotions, your thoughts at times. You know, at meetings, they tell us that we shouldn't get involved in a relationship until we've been out of rehab a year. And here I am married to you just six months out. And now this anniversary…"

"It scares you, doesn't it?" He caressed her face as she nodded. "Are you craving right now?" She shook her head slowly. "Oh, Erin, that's wonderful." He kissed her forehead and she snuggled close to him.

"Would you just hold me for a minute?" He nodded and she rested her head on his chest. The tears wouldn't stop flowing, and her husband just rubbed her back gently. "Thank you, mo chroi." She pushed herself back from him, and smiled up into his face. "How can I help you finish here?"

"Could you get the tree out of the pot while I finish digging the hole?" She nodded and turned the pot on its side, gently pressing down on it as she turned it in her hands to loosen the dirt. The pot came away with a dull pop and she turned it upright, looking at David.

"Are you ready for me?"

"Uh huh, just set it in the hole." She did as instructed and he quickly filled in the hole and then poured in the water. Clapping his hands to get off the clumps of dirt, he went over to the faucet and washed his hands clean of the muddy remains. "All right, on to my father."

Erin could hear the sadness in his voice and she rushed to his side, wrapping her arms around him tightly. She could feel his tears dampen her hair and she returned his comforting gesture from earlier. He clung to her and she was grateful for being needed in this moment, as if she were returning some small measure of the support he had given her all these months they'd been together. "Hold on to me, love."

"Until the end of time, love." He kissed the top of her head, holding her a little more tightly for a moment. "All right, I think I'm ready to move on."

She nodded and took the car keys from his pocket. "I'll drive you there." He nodded and got in the car. Taking a deep breath, she slid behind the wheel and drove the short distance to the place where his father lay. Putting the car in park, she turned to look at David. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be." They got out, and he clasped her hand tightly, leading her over to the bench in front of the headstone. "So, do you want to hear a story about my father?"

"I would love that, Davie." She curled up into him and rested her head on his chest.

"So, my father was thought to be dead for about five months. He went over to France and fought against the Germans right in the middle of World War II. He wasn't one to sign up for the war, there was a business to run back home, and he was the one in charge of that, being the youngest of thirteen and one of only four still at home. But he went once he was drafted. So, there he was, on the front lines, trying to fight off the Germans, and he gets shot in the shoulder. As he's lying on the ground, he can hear those around him groaning and moaning with their various wounds. And then when they come by to rescue the survivors, they pass him by.

"It took the Germans to figure out he was still alive, and they took him back to their hospital camp. He could never remember what happened after they put him under, only that he had shrapnel in his side for the rest of his life. When I was little, he used to freak me out by making me put his hand in the hole that was left."

"He had an actual hole under his arm?" Erin couldn't help but interrupt.

"Not technically, here, let me show you." Dave lifted her right arm and then took hold of her left hand. "Feel how you have that muscle and those bones there?" She nodded. "His were missing, or changed from ours, and I, of course, used it to my advantage with my friends, freaking them out as well. So, after he was stabilized, the Germans sent him to a prison camp in Poland."

"Oh, God," she whispered, thinking back to her college history courses and remembering that Poland had been the worst place to be held. "But why did they think he was dead if the Germans took care of him?"

"One of his troop members swore that he was dead. They never recovered a body for him, but still, they went to his father's shop and told him the bad news. So, they held a funeral for him. My future mother was quite distraught, couldn't even go to the funeral, since she was under her doctor's care."

"Margaret, right?" He nodded. "I wish I had been able to meet her, she sounds like a lovely lady."

"She died just after I married my second wife. So, anyway, everyone back home thought Dad was dead and he was recuperating in a German hospital. I can always remember him saying that they treated him with the utmost respect and gave him the best care, much better than some of his fellow Americans received. He was at one of the worst prison camps; I found that out after he died. His hospital window overlooked one of the crematoriums."

Erin shuddered and he rubbed her shoulder. "I can only imagine what fresh Hell that was," she said lowly and he nodded.

"That's why he never talked about it. Even when I went off to Nam, he wouldn't share, he just told me to be careful. So, once he had healed enough, they sent him off to work on a farm during the day, returning to the camp at nights. The wife of the farmer nicknamed him Hap, even though his name was Joseph, since he was always so happy, no matter what he had to do for them. He was always a great gardener. He only worked on the farm for a few months before the camp was liberated and the government declared him not dead. It took another three months before he made it home, during which time his family had been informed of the blessed event that had occurred. I don't think that there was a full month between when he came home and my parents married."

"He was a hero."

"I know. I have his Purple Heart and his POW medals. They're in a box alongside my own Purple Heart. Oh, God, Erin, I miss him so much." He broke down weeping and she felt tears of sympathy well up in her own eyes as she held him close to her.

"Mo chroi, mo chroi," she said lowly as they rocked back and forth. Erin stroked his hair, feeling the sobs softly tear out of her throat as they sat there. "And he never spoke of his time there, never let his demons outside his head. Promise me you won't do that to me, my love."

"The most I can say is that I'll try. We're a bit tight lipped in the Rossi family." He kissed her cheek and she leaned into his touch. "I love you, Erin Rossi."

"And I love you, David Rossi. Do you want me to get the flag now?"

He nodded and she stood up, going to the car and pulling out the medium sized flag they had decided to put next to his gravestone. Kneeling on the ground in front of the gravestone, she worked the flag into the ground so that it would stand on its own. She could feel him come up behind her and she leaned back against his legs. "I miss my father, Erin."

"I know, honey." She stood and he wrapped his arms around her waist. "This is the worst time of year for you, Davie. Losing James, your birthday, and this anniversary. I want to tell you that it gets better, but how can I say that? We each grieve in our own way, and I cannot tell you that tomorrow you'll wake up and everything will be sunshine and rainbows. I know that full well." She kissed his cheek and let him nuzzle his face against hers.

"When I die, I want to be between you and Carolyn," he said suddenly. "Would you mind that terribly?"

Erin took a deep breath, and he led them back over to the bench. "I guess I've never thought about that, Davie. Are you sure that's what you want?"

"Yes, I'm quite certain that it is. Unless you wanted to be buried next to Arthur?"

She shuddered at the thought and shook her head. "No, I don't want to be next to him. Fine, if the plot next to you is free, I will make that my final resting place. You know, Heaven is going to be really interesting. Do you think that we'll share a mansion, all of us together, or will we each have our own place?"

"I'd sort of like for us to be all together." He turned on the bench and she copied his movement, staring into his eyes. "My family means the world to me, Erin, and the more of us we can fit inside one house, the happier I'll be." He leaned forward and kissed her softly.

"If I'm this content and happy now, I can only imagine what the Afterlife is going to be like." She rested her forehead against his and hummed happily.

"Until we get there, this is going to have to do." He took hold of her hand and turned so that he faced his father's headstone once more. "Dad, I'd like you to meet my wife, Erin. She's the love of my middle and old age, and I cannot wait for us to meet up there so that you can finally see the woman who's captured my heart. I think that you would really love her, since she's the most amazing woman. We've been through a lot before we came together, and I've found that our broken pieces fit so very well. I have to go now, Dad, but we'll be back soon."

They stood and made their way back to the car. Dave opened the door for her and she smiled up at him as she took a seat. "Thank you for including me in this. I love you."

He bent down and kissed her sweetly. "I love you, too." He closed the door and went around to his side, starting the car and driving home. They were quiet once more, but it was more peaceful this time, as if they had settled on something that brought peace to their souls. Idly, she fingered Reid's year medal, realizing that for the first time in a month she had not had a single craving. Despite everything life had thrown at them, she had not wanted to retreat into the bottle and forget about the bad.

"Davie, mo chroi, an entire month," she said lowly, bursting into happy tears as he pulled into the driveway. He turned off the car and turned to look at her, tears of his own wetting his eyes.

"I'm so proud of you, my sweet English rose. And I think that deserves a celebration, don't you?" She nodded and unbuckled her belt, making for the door. "You'll never beat me there!" he teased and she shrugged.

"Maybe I want you to catch me." She grinned when he slung an arm around her waist, holding onto her tightly as he unlocked the door. Looking up into the sky, she saw a lark flying above their home and knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that her life had changed for the better at last and that the old ways were behind her. "Make love to me, Davie."

"With pleasure," he murmured against her lips, leading her upstairs to their bedroom.


End file.
